Editor,
One of the most open secrets of the state of Meghalaya is the wayward and errant manner in which our MLAs and elected representatives carry out and operate the so called MLA Scheme. For the uninitiated, the MLA Scheme is a conspiracy on how MLAs spend public money (your money and mine) as if it were their own personal money. Now finally all suspicions have been confirmed; the secret laid wide open; wrongdoings exposed to one and all.
The news headlines of the Oct 26, 2017 speaks of the unearthing of a huge scam in the MLA schemes run by the Laban MLA. This expose came through a RTI sting operation mounted none other than by his own supporters, people who knew but who decided to back up their accusations with facts and figures. Unaccounted expenditures of public funds running into crores; arbitrary appointment, without a tendering process, of a single man supplier; gifting away utensils and dinner sets raises the question: what do these have to do with development; with the eradication of poverty or with the building of infrastructure? This is how MLAs squander scarce resources. It’s not their personal money! It’s public money!
The shameless excuse that this is all part of a political vendetta against the MLA, Mr Sanbor Shullai does not hold water. There is strong suspicion that 99% of all our MLAs indulge in similar illegal activities as far as the MLA scheme is concerned. It is useless to demand for an enquiry by the Govt. It’s like asking a thief to catch a thief. I would request the public minded group from Kynjat Phutbol, who had moved the RTI against their own MLA, to take their campaign to clean politics one step further. Please move a PIL in the High Court or the Supreme Court for an investigation into how Meghalaya MLAs utilise their MLA funds. The RTI findings are evidence enough for admission of such a writ. Misappropriation and embezzlement of the public exchequer, to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees, must be exposed. The criminals must be arrested and punished. No one is above the law! Please read the writing on the wall.
Yours etc.,
P Wahlang,
Shillong- 4
Snub to Modi or sheer ignorance?
Editor,
CNN News 18 headlines on Oct 29 last reported that data of 300 Aadhar numbers of pensioners were stolen in Hyderabad. This reminds of the utter disregard for Prime Minister Modi’s pro-poor and pro-people push on Aadhar Cards by the local postal authority of Tura West Garo Hills. Firstly, the Aadhar cards of all individuals enrolled were sent by post from UIDAI (GOI) and were to be delivered to each individual Aadhar card holder in their mailing address. But to my shock and surprise these Aadhar cards are lying unattended outside the glass enclosure counter of the Tura Post Office for anybody to grab and run away with. If there is shortage of manpower to deliver the Aadhar cards, the postal department should have made use of the public address system of the DIPR, Tura and also the media to give wide publicity asking those enrolled for the Aadhar to collect the cards personally from the post office after showing valid proof of identity. But the casual handling of this important matter by the post is a direct insult to the PM and his Govt. In my tenure as a former journalist of the IPR department Tura there were all kinds of requests to publicise government schemes, programmes etc., in greater public interest. Will the postal authorities please take note ?
Another of the PM’s pet scheme the PMAY ( Prime Minister’s Awaas Yojna) which received wide response from the people when notified by the TMB ( Tura Municipal Board) seems to have lost traction and got stuck elsewhere since most of the applicants had drawn “ZERO ” answer and the PMAY scheme seems to have vaporized into thin air. Who is to be held accountable for this tangle? Will the PMO please take note of this?
Coming back to the Aadhar enrolment most of those enrolled at Tura Upper Chandmary SSA School premises including myself, have got the UID Card but some housewives are yet to get theirs. On being told that Aadhar photograph is being taken at the DC’s Office Tura some housewives scurried to the spot only to be told that it’s only for Govt. employees. The same happened with the TMB(Tura Municipal Board) ! The million dollar question is: who will be answerable for this fiasco and flip-flop because Tura town has maximum number of women contractors whose bank accounts will have to be linked with Aadhar cards on or before 31st December according to diktat from the RBI and Finance Ministry. Of course this is extended up to March 31, 2018 for those who had not yet obtained their UID cards. Will the concerned authorities look into the matter seriously please?
Yrs etc.,
Sonaram M Sangma,
Tura